No End

Released Jan 1, 1985

1h 48m

Drama

List

90%

Tomatometer

10 Reviews

77%

Audience Score

500+ Ratings

Amid the social unrest of 1980s Poland, attorney Antek Zyro (Jerzy Radziwiłowicz) dies in a car accident. His translator wife, Ursula (Grazyna Szapolowska), tries to continue her own work, raise the couple's son and refrain from dwelling on the loss of her husband, but she finds that grief is inescapable. Antek's ghost then begins to haunt her, and she decides that she can best serve her husband's memory by becoming involved in the last case he was working on, involving a political prisoner.

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Noel Murray

AV Club

[Deserves] to be counted among his acknowledged classics

Aug 30, 2006

Full Review

Vincent Canby

New York Times

I suspect that the story of how No End came to be made, and of how it speaks to Polish audiences, would be of as much interest to American audiences as the film itself.

Rated: 2/5

Aug 30, 2004

Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

This 1984 feature by the remarkable Krzysztof Kieslowski has been described as his most explicitly political.

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

The aching of a moral crisis permeates every pore, from courtroom to bedroom

Mar 14, 2010

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 4/5

Jun 15, 2005

Full Review

Dan Jardine

Cinemania

Kieslowski's most overtly political film, also one of his most potent; it boasts a finale that will surely set viewer's tongues wagging, whether in agreement or disconcertion

Rated: 86/100

Nov 14, 2004

Full Review

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Fra B

the way it evokes everything so subtly and hiddenly and yet makes sure the audience knows what's going on every time... great stuff!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

11/29/21

Full Review

dave j

Co-written and directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski who became synonymous for the "Three Colors" trilogy. An earlier film with husband speaking directly toward viewers that he had just died. His wife Ula Zyro (Grazyna Szapolowska) is in the grieving process and can't seem to get over it as she attempts to continue her routine until she stumbles onto her husband's last case before he had died since he was a defense lawyer for Polish's political judicial system which serves nothing more than a backdrop.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A prelude to Blue and A Requiem for a beautiful death

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Audience Member

bummer theater but very engaging

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Don't expect straight-up sci-fi, but don't leave "No End" as hung up on a left-leaning high-five. Kieslowski is a master of dreamy camerawork and hypnotic center, and he ultimately ends things in an explosion of light. Because sometimes brighter stars can kill the moonlight, or at least pull it out of focus for a while. And then when you're not looking, it drowns you and swallows everything and everyone surrounding.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Mesmerising, if only for the performance by Grazyna Szapolowska as the widow who moves through the film and ignites every scene. Beautiful and tragic at once she emanates power over the audience and one cannot turn away. I had not realised how much this film must have influenced some established mainstream films that we assume to be original. Obviously many of them owe a great debt to this story. Told unflinchingly by Kieslowski in a unshowy manner it still demonstrates moments of brilliant insights into the human condition. The pain and torture we must endure after such heartache runs through the the heart of this film. I particularly liked the little moments as always, such as the glass slipping through her fingers, the dog trying to get in the car, the dirt on her hands from the bumper whilst witnessing the accident, the hypnotherapy session where she sees him. All simple and yet so elegant. No hammering it through to the audience with big signposting saying 'Remember this for later!'. Why don't more films treat the audience with a tiny bit more intelligence or is the majority of film going to assume we are all thick. And just because a film is mainstream doesn't mean it has to be low brow.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/02/23

Full Review

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Krzysztof Kieslowski

Director

Grazyna Szapolowska

Ula Zyro

Maria Pakulnis

Joanna

Aleksander Bardini

Labrador

Jerzy Radziwiłowicz

Antek Zyro

Artur Barciś

Darek Stach

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Synopsis

Amid the social unrest of 1980s Poland, attorney Antek Zyro (Jerzy Radziwiłowicz) dies in a car accident. His translator wife, Ursula (Grazyna Szapolowska), tries to continue her own work, raise the couple's son and refrain from dwelling on the loss of her husband, but she finds that grief is inescapable. Antek's ghost then begins to haunt her, and she decides that she can best serve her husband's memory by becoming involved in the last case he was working on, involving a political prisoner.

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Screenwriter: Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krzysztof Piesiewicz
Distributor: New Yorker Films
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Polish
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 1, 1985, Wide
Release Date (DVD): Aug 16, 2005
Runtime: 1h 48m